FEATURE: Through Purp's Lens - Mougabe Saint Louis

There’s a pulse beating through Brooklyn, a subtle movement which embodies remanence of an artistic renaissance. One of its main players is photographer Mougabe’ Saint Louis, commonly known as Purp. A Grenadian born, and Brooklyn raised artist who has his feet firmly pressed into something great. With his work being featured in Jungle Gym Magazine, GIANT Magazine, Con Artist Gallery and countless fashion blogs, he’s still incredibly humble and modest. It’s a great balance of seemingly polar opposites in personality, to be confidently humble.

By Queen, AFROPUNK Contributor *

Purp is a conceptual photographer, which means his photographs typically illustrate an idea or are staged to represent an idea, and tell a story. Always visually inspired, he began drawing and writing which eventually evolved into different forms of photography as he cultivated a fitting niche for his artistic expression. He’s very versatile and the range of what he photographs is diverse and displays a sense of uninhibited thought, as well as curiosity that many lose in adulthood. He considers himself his first muse, and when asked what sparks the vision of a lot of his work, he simply answers “past and present lover”. Small statement with lots of volume, which his work eloquently answers many times over.

A lot of his images are women, which is mainly why I am drawn to them. His continuous play on kink, virginal, love and subtle destruction imagery in one place is intriguing. Be it conscious or just an after thought it translates into something amazing. His Young Lovers series is one of his first concepts, and also ongoing. He deems it the “baby of his work”.

With all this creative energy flowing it makes one wonder, "what's it all for?". Many artists are asked why they create, and the paths they intend it to lead them to, and many times we receive colorful answers of past, present and future insinuations. Ask Purp, and you’ll hear this, “Never really cared about thinking that far into the future, I just do it now because I love it, people change, photographs don't.” A great ode to simply just living in the moment, enjoying the now, a key element in many renaissance past.